Burmese Connection. Ashish Basu

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СКАЧАТЬ Banos.

      Tim joked and commented, “Some people prefer the scenic route to get back to San Rafael from Glendale—what can I say? Please enjoy your vacation. I will see you day after tomorrow, then.” After that, Tim ended the call.

      The day had been long and tiring, so Kip had a shower, finished his delicious hotel ordered pizza, watched the news on CNN for a half an hour, and went to sleep. In many cities in the US, there were Black Lives Matter protests. In several cities, the protests had turned violent toward the late evening hours. The next day, before breakfast, Kip called Dick for a status on the repair. Dick said that they had more delays, but the car would be ready for pickup by 10:00 a.m. It didn’t matter to Kip that much because it would still be mid-afternoon when he would reach Highway 101 near Gilroy. He would switch to Highway 280 eventually, but he was a lot more worried about the traffic on Highway 101. Once he was past that bottleneck, in San Jose, Highway 280 was manageable. He had no way to get a better sense of the traffic on the way. I will cross that bridge when I get to it, thought Kip.

      His next traffic nightmare could be the Sausalito bound traffic on the Golden Gate bridge, but he thought he could deal with it. Kip had a leisurely breakfast of eggs, bacon, and a lot of black coffee. After that, he walked around the block and completed his three-mile daily quota of brisk walking. Los Banos was a pretty quiet place; Kip liked the simple working-class town. Visitors were probably there only because of I5 or the University of California, Merced to the East. It was also a route to the Yosemite Park, not a popular one but a good one, and there was a lot less traffic.

      He used the hotel Wi-Fi, cleared all his emails, sent the two documents Dr. Kang had wanted, and then left for Dick’s auto shop. On arrival at Dick’s repair shop, Kip noticed that the brown Acura Integra was ready and parked outside—Dick had even washed the car thoroughly. Dick profusely apologized for the delay and said that while the repair work was going on, someone had called about the car and his mechanic talked to the caller. Kip asked him what the call was for, but Dick did not know; he went inside to check with his mechanic, but the mechanic had already stepped out for early lunch. Dick said their lunch break was usually one hour, but he was not sure if the mechanic would return in an hour. He had left early for a doctor visit that had to be today.

      Kip was in two minds, but in the end, he decided not to wait any longer and risk traffic delays on Highway 101 North and then on the Golden Gate Bridge. He did not want to get caught in traffic on 101 or even 280. Kip paid Dick’s invoice with his American Express and headed for Highway 152 Westbound; he would now be on 152 West all the way till Gilroy, California. For a regular Tuesday morning, traffic on the road was light, and Kip made good time. The car was driving like a charm. Clearly, Dick knew what he was doing—the noise was all gone. The ride quality was very good for a 2002 Acura. Gasoline cars of that vintage were really made, Kip thought. He had to admire the build quality of the Japanese cars—so reliable after so many years on the road.

      After a couple of hours, Kip arrived in Gilroy and merged into 101 Northbound. There was a small roadside brush fire near San Martin, so for about three miles, Hwy 101 had only two of the four lanes operating. Contrary to his expectations, Northbound 280 was completely clogged with traffic near Palo Alto, and that slow down added at least twenty-five minutes to his travel. Most of the crowd was for the VC firms and HP campus—some for Stanford University. There was a demonstration going on at the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza. He saw that the protesters were carrying signage that said, “Make America Great Again” and “Four More Years.” He knew who those protesters were. Finally, around 6:30 p.m. after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, Kip could see his lane. Roads were wet—it had rained a lot over here!

      What started out as a short-day trip to San Diego finally came to an end a day and half later! He was really tired from the long drive. Kip parked the Acura next to his Jaguar on the driveway, opened his garage, and went inside. Once inside, Kip made some coffee and sat down with his laptop to clear his email. His flat screen TV was on mute. Kip saw on CNN that the Black Lives Matter protests were now happening in multiple cities in the US simultaneously. Some of the CNN analysts were saying that professional sports teams from the NBA and NFL would soon join the protests. Kip thought it was about time. He was tired of seeing examples of racial discrimination on TV weekly; it was like having two legal systems in the same country. What bothered him even more was that the government and the folks in power were still mostly in denial.

      If Kip had time, he would have liked to go to San Francisco and join one of the protest marches. He made a mental note to check the schedule and check if he could go. If he drove down to San Francisco, he would have to commit himself for a full workday. That was the only reason he had not been able to go. He did not have that kind of time right now, but he would in a month or so, and at that time, he would most definitely do a plan with Tim and drive down to San Francisco. Because of the lockdowns, parking in the city had become much easier.

      The next morning, Kip woke up at 5:00 a.m. so that he could start the day early after his run on the trail near Marin Headlands—he got back after his five-mile route. He came back from his run, showered, and was about to sit down for breakfast when his landline phone at home rang.

      The display had John’s phone number from Glendale, and as he picked up the phone, he could hear Joe’s excited voice at the other end, “Uncle Kip, I made it into the university; they have even offered me the Electrical Engineering honors program I was waiting for. I might get good financial aid as well.”

      “Wow, wow, Joey, slow down,” Kip said, “we were talking about this only yesterday at your house in Glendale. I am so happy and thrilled for you. I am sure you would become a great electrical engineer someday. Anyway, very big congratulations!”

      He really felt great for the kid. After a couple of minutes, John came on the line. John said, “Kip, I never thought I would bother you like this, but could you please drop off the car this week? Joe will need it on the campus because there is no other form of transportation.”

      Kip replied, “No worries at all, John. I had to visit Southern California next week anyway for a project in San Diego. Could I bring it over on Thursday, say midday?”

      “That will be awesome. Thursday any time would be all right, Kip. You decide, I don’t want to impose,” John said.

      He realized that John was feeling a bit awkward, but in reality, it was not an inconvenience for Kip’s schedule at all. He thought he would let John know next time they met face-to-face in Glendale. Kip disconnected and started planning. If I’m going back to SoCal, it might make sense to connect up with Dr. Kang in San Diego, he thought. After a few minutes of thinking, Kip discarded that thought. It was probably better to keep the schedule flexible for now, at least.

      Finally, Kip decided that he would start early on Thursday, drive to Glendale, and return the car. Only after that was done would he plan the rest of the activities. After his last trip got disrupted the way it did, Kip thought that too much detailed planning was not very wise. If he could plan to drive in off-peak hours, he should be fine because the distances in SoCal were not far. After dropping off John’s car, if things went as planned, he could easily rent a car from Glendale or Burbank Airport.

      He could drive down to San Diego; he would use United Airlines on the way back. He had lots of unused miles for 2020, and in their mileage program, some miles could expire. Kip wanted to bounce off a few ideas with Dr. Kang about the Thai wireless job. No big deal. Kip spent most of Wednesday in meetings with his partner Tim. He briefed Tim on the ongoing cases and made sure that Tim had all the case files, copies of agreements, email addresses, and contacts for the priority items. After his last trip got extended, he had become wiser.

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